Does Gabe Evans regret scoring a spot on the coveted House Energy and Commerce panel, now that it has seen roiling debates over Medicaid?
“No, absolutely not,” said the Colorado Republican, who was a cop, a Blackhawk pilot and a state legislator before coming to Congress this year.
That helps him take on thorny problems, he said. But issues like those may not be easy to navigate in his freshman term, after he narrowly flipped his seat. About 1 in 4 people rely on Medicaid in his district, which extends north from the suburbs of Denver, and he’ll have to ward off Democratic attacks as one of the House’s most vulnerable members.
Evans sat down with Roll Call earlier this month, a few days before a marathon markup session where he joined fellow Energy and Commerce Republicans in advancing their portion of the party’s budget reconciliation package. He talked about his “boots on the ground” experience in law enforcement and the military — and he’s literally still got the boots, which he wears every day.
“These are actually my cop boots. This particular pair is on their third set of soles, and I still wear them because it reminds me why I’m here. From me being a baby patrol officer out doing the job to being in the halls of Congress, that part of my routine hasn’t changed,” Evans said.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Q: How are you settling into Congress, and what’s the weirdest thing you’ve experienced so far?
A: I spent most of my career as a cop being on body camera, knowing that everything that I did was going to be audio or visual recorded, and if not by me, by somebody with a cellphone, with somebody’s security system. So I’m totally used to living under that. But it’s just really unique to wake up in the morning and check the headlines and be like, “Oh, look, there’s me, and there’s me again, and oh, I was at that meeting.”
One of the things I was most proud of during my 10 years as a cop is that I only ever got into two fights. I arrested the bad guys, but I was just really, really good at being able to talk them into handcuffs rather than fight them into handcuffs. And so I’m able to translate that skill set to politics, to build rapport and try to understand where people are at.
Q: You’re one of the few freshmen in recent years to land on the Energy and Commerce panel. Do you regret getting on it now, with the hornet’s nest of reconciliation and finding Medicaid cuts?
A: First and foremost, we’re not cutting Medicaid. It is removing the fraud, waste and abuse from Medicaid so resources are being used efficiently and effectively, so that we actually have better access to care.
And no, absolutely not. I mean, being able to serve the community in difficult ways and being able to come up with creative solutions, that’s what I did as a cop. That’s what I did as a soldier, not only overseas, but in Colorado, fighting wildfires and doing search and rescues. That’s why I enjoyed those jobs, because policy and procedure and SOPs only go so far, and at a certain point, you have to come up with unorthodox solutions that have the ultimate goal of making everybody’s life better.
Q: What if it goes beyond what you just described? Will you oppose the final reconciliation package if it cuts Medicaid?
A: I am confident we’re going to be able to do everything that we need to do and accomplish what the president said, which is protect Medicaid for lawful beneficiaries.
Q: You were homeschooled growing up. What was that like?
A: I was homeschooled all 12 years. My wife was homeschooled all 12 years. My kids have been public schooled, charter schooled and homeschooled, so they’ve done a little bit of everything. Right now we’re in the homeschool phase, so we have the geographic flexibility to go back and forth between the district and D.C.
Everybody always asks, “Oh, were you socialized enough?” And the answer for me is yes. I was absolutely socialized enough. As a police sergeant, after we’d have a big call or a hostage situation, we would do an after action review. Interpersonal skill is critically important when you’re negotiating with whoever’s barricaded or talking to somebody in danger.
I would go around the circle of cops in some dark parking lot at 1 in the morning, and I would make a joke and say, “I’m so proud of the homeschooler in our midst. You did such a great job talking to people.” We’d all look around like, who’s the homeschooler? Oh, it’s me. Did any of y’all know that? It was my self-deprecating way to just break the stereotype a little bit.
Q: You’re the grandson of Mexican immigrants. More than a third of your district is Hispanic, and you sit on the House Homeland Security Committee. Are you concerned that the Trump administration’s approach to deportations could backfire on Republicans?
A: [My grandfather immigrated to the U.S.] from northern Mexico, from Chihuahua. I joined the Army in the global war on terror after we lost 2,996 lives on Sept. 11, 2001. But in 2023, fentanyl killed that same number every 15 days. We know that it comes across the southern border, and it’s trafficked by cartels like the Sinaloa cartel, like the Jalisco cartel, which are now designated foreign terrorist organizations, and we’ve seen the impact of that in my district. We’ve seen just tremendous strides in solving that public safety crisis in the last couple of months.
Q: But what about people being deported without due process or without clear ties to gangs?
A: Whenever we go out into the community, I ask people, “Have you heard of anybody that’s been deported, and do you think there’s problems associated with how that process occurred?” We have not yet identified one case in Colorado where somebody was deported in a manner that brought concern.
Once we actually talked about the issue, people would say, “Oh yeah, so and so was deported, but we all knew they were dealing drugs. Now that you mention it, they were involved with some bad stuff.” And so I am confident that at least in my area, it’s Tren de Aragua. It’s MS-13. These are criminals, and quite honestly, the Hispanic community does not want that in their neighborhoods.
I introduced a bill that’s passed out of Homeland Security, a bipartisan bill talking about transnational repression, which is when foreign governments try to use their influence on American soil to suppress dissidents. We saw that with the underground Chinese police station in New York. We’re also seeing it with the Venezuelan community, where the Maduro government is trying to use and leverage Tren de Aragua. And so being able to bring the hammer down on these drug dealers, these criminals, these foreign gangs, it’s actually pretty popular with the Hispanics in my district.
Quick hits
Last book you read? The only book I really have time to read at this point is the Bible. And I am rereading “The Art of the Deal.”
In politics, can the ends justify the means? I think you have to be ethical. But ethical doesn’t mean you can’t be a tough negotiator.
Your least popular opinion? I take my coffee black because I don’t want to have to worry about the calories that come with better taste.
Best part of the job? I love learning, going back to the homeschooler thing, whether we’re talking about geothermal or beef processing or solar panels or how you do quality assurance testing on concrete for a new road that’s been laid.
Something your friends know about you that your constituents don’t? I am a die-hard “Lord of the Rings” nerd. And by “Lord of the Rings” nerd, I mean the broader Tolkien universe. I do not mean Peter Jackson’s movies. My wife is very concerned that my kids think “Lord of the Rings” mythology is actual, real history.
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